Numbers 11:9-33

⁹Each night the manna came down on their ground where their tents were, like dew from the sky.

¹⁰Moses/I heard all the Israeli people complaining as they were standing in the entrances of their tents. Yahweh became very angry, and Moses/I was also very perturbed.

¹¹He/I went into the Sacred Tent and asked Yahweh, “Why have you caused me, your servant, to experience this trouble RHQ? Act mercifully to me! What wrong have I done, with the result that you have appointed me to take care of all of these people RHQ?

¹²◄I am not their father./Am I their father?► RHQ Why have you told me to take care of them like a woman carries around her baby and ◄nurses it/gives it her milk► MET, RHQ? How can I take them to the land that you promised to give to our ancestors RHQ?

¹³Where can I get meat to feed all these people? They keep complaining to me, saying, ‘Give us some meat to eat!’

¹⁴I cannot carry all these people's burdens by myself! They are like a heavy load MET, and I cannot carry this very heavy load anymore.

¹⁵If you intend to act like this toward me, kill me now. If you are really concerned about me, be kind to me and kill me to end my misery of trying to take care of them!”

¹⁶Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Summon seventy men whom you know are leaders among the Israeli people. Tell them to stand with you in front of the Sacred Tent.

¹⁷I will come down and talk with you there. Then I will take some of the power of my Spirit that you have, and I will put that power on them also. They will help you to take care of some of the things that the people are concerned about, in order that you will not need to do it alone.

¹⁸Furthermore, say to the people, ‘Make yourselves acceptable to me, and tomorrow you will have meat to eat. You were complaining, and Yahweh heard you when you were saying, “We want some meat to eat. We had better food in Egypt!” Now Yahweh will give you some meat, and you will eat it.

¹⁹You will eat meat not only for one or two days, nor only for five or ten or twenty days.

²⁰You will eat meat every day for one month, and then you will loathe/despise it, and it will cause you to want to vomit. This will happen because you have rejected Yahweh who is here among you, and you have wailed in his presence, saying “We would have had better food to eat if we had not left Egypt RHQ.”’”

²¹But Moses/I replied to Yahweh, “There are six hundred thousand men plus women and children here with me, so ◄ why do you say ‘I will give them plenty of meat every day for a month!’?/it does not seem right for you to say ‘I will give them plenty of meat every day for a month!’► RHQ

²²Even if we killed all the sheep and cattle, that would not RHQ be enough to provide meat for all of them Even if we caught all the fish in the sea and gave it to them, that would not be enough RHQ!”

²³But Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Do you think that I SYN have no power? You will now see if I can do what I say I will do.”

²⁴So Moses/I went out from the Sacred Tent and told the people what Yahweh had said. Then he/I gathered together the seventy leaders and told them to stand around the Sacred Tent.

²⁵Then Yahweh came down in the cloud that was above the tent and spoke to Moses/me. He took some of the power of the Spirit that he had given to Moses/me and gave it to the seventy leaders. By means of the power of the Spirit within them, they ◄prophesied/spoke messages that Yahweh gave them►, but they did that only once.

²⁶Two of the leaders whom Moses/I appointed, Eldad and Medad, were not there when the rest of them gathered together. They had not left their tents to go and stand around the Sacred Tent. But Yahweh's Spirit came on them also, and they started to ◄prophesy/speak messages from Yahweh►.

²⁷So a young man ran and told Moses/me, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in all their tents!”

²⁸Joshua, who had helped Moses/me since he was a young man, said, “Sir, tell them to stop doing that!”

²⁹But Moses/I replied, “◄Are you worried that they might injure my reputation/Do you think that I want to be the only one who prophesies► RHQ? I wish that all Yahweh's people could ◄prophesy/speak messages from Yahweh►. I wish that Yahweh would give the power of his Spirit to all of them!”

³⁰Then Moses/I and all the leaders went back to their/our tents.

³¹Then Yahweh sent a strong wind from the sea. It blew quail into the area all around the camp for miles in every direction, and caused the quail to fall onto the ground. They were piled up on the ground about ◄3 feet/1 meter► high!

³²So the people went out and gathered up the quail all that day, and all that night, and all of the following day. It seemed as though everyone gathered at least fifty bushels! They spread the quail out on the ground all around the camp, so that the quail would dry out.

³³Then they cooked them and started to eat them. But while they were still eating the meat MTY, Yahweh showed that he was very angry with them. He struck them with a severe plague/sickness, and many people died.